OneWorld event highlights election

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LiveOneWorld Magazine has started the ‘Be An Informed Voter’ campaign this semester with the hopes of keeping students in the loop about the upcoming

Tony Trabon/ OneWorld Photographer

presidential election.

The ‘Be An Informed Voter’ campaign is about giving students unbiased information that can help them make educated decisions in the upcoming election. OneWorld was stationed in the quad handing out flyers containing information concerning the various policies of President Barack Obama and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as the Libertarian and Green Parties.

“We realized that it’s more important to be an informed voter, not just a registered voter, especially with this generation,” Managing Editor of OneWorld Magazine Mary Shannon said. “We wanted to be able to provide unbiased information on both Romney and Obama and the other secondary parties.”

Each flyer was comprised of a summary view of the economic, foreign, social, education, environmental and healthcare policies of each candidate.

In addition to the flyers, tables were set up with a more detailed description of the beliefs and policies held by each camp.

The stand was dedicated to Romney Oct. 8 and Obama on Oct. 9. On Oct. 10 OneWorld held a mock election, with the booth displaying the same information from the first two days side by side.

Romney’s table was decked out in red with posters detailing Romney’s promises should he win the election. These commitments included his intent to approve the Keystone Pipeline and begin to repeal Obamacare within the first day of his presidency.

Obama’s table was lined with blue and gave information about his intention to continue to strengthen and reform social programs such as Medicare and Social Security, as well as his dedication to continued economic stimulus and his progress in job creation.

The source of the information for OneWorld’s posters and flyers varied.

“We have multiple sources. We got a lot of the information from each candidate’s website and from their published platforms, but we also have secondary unbiased sites as well,” Shannon said. “We didn’t want to focus on anything left wing or right wing, we wanted to get middle of the road information.”

OneWorld promised none of the information was interpreted, allowing students to gather the facts as they stand and make up their own minds on what their vote would mean. The mock election had a turnout of 883 voters, with Obama winning 52 percent of the vote, trailed by Romney with 39 percent, Gary Johnson with five percent, and Jill Stein in last with roughly three percent of the vote. There were nine write-ins, which made up 1 percent of votes.

“We wanted to kind of get the competitive juices flowing for our mock election,” said Shannon concerning the reasoning behind splitting up each day by candidate. “Also so we can just focus on both candidates and give them the attention that they deserve.”

OneWorld originally planned to register students to vote and host the informational event simultaneously, Editor-in-Chief Julia Brucks said. However, it is illegal to provide political information and register voters, so OneWorld decided to focus on providing information. OneWorld believes the event was a great success.

“Overhearing a few students talking politics made our time, energy and enthusiasm completely worthwhile,” Brucks said.

“We had high hopes, and the event met each one,” Shannon said.

Brucks highlighted the fact that their campaign is still going, despite the closure of the three-day event. One World is looking in to different ways to continue to keep students informed in the days leading up to the election.

Brendan McDermott, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences said that his original desire to avoid being accosted by flyers was subdued when he realized the information he had been handed was actually interesting to him.

OneWorld Magazine is a social rights publication that prints biannually. There will be a release party, with a presentation on how OneWorld came to be, as well as food and a binder detailing the development of the latest issue.